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The company is Under Armour!!!!(clothing line and shoes) Executive summary. Briefly explain the key features of your business plan and why your product or service is better than that of your competition in the eyes of the target market. Remember that your goal is to give the intended audience the essential information up front while convincing them to read further for details. Context. This section should provide leadership and potential investors with background information on the company’s current brand and how the new product or service fits with that brand. Be sure to do the following: Lay out the key defining features of Under Armour's brand and how these features drive business decisions. For example, how are these factors an extension of the company’s mission, vision, and values? What are the non-negotiables for a product or service to carry the Under Amours name? Assess how the new idea fits with the company’s existing brand and how that impacts your business plan. Support your response with relevant research and analysis. For example, will the product or service be part of a new brand or an existing brand? How will that affect the way you market the product both within the company and to consumers? Evaluate the effectiveness of Under Armour's existing branding efforts (or branding efforts for similar products or services if yours is a new company).What does the evaluation suggest for the new product or service? Support your response with relevant analysis. Define your target market and its unique characteristics. Be sure to discuss the following:. Basic demographics. What are the key demographic features of the individuals or businesses who are most likely to purchase your product or service? Support your response with relevant market research. For example, how might age, purchasing power, decision-making authority, or other factors affect the product or service’s appeal to potential customers? What other might behavioral or psychographic characteristics of your target market affect their purchasing decisions? Support your response with relevant research. How does the new product or service meet a specific want or need of the target market that you identified? In other words, what principal benefits or key features would the target market find appealing? Support your response with relevant market research. Based on your analysis above, why is this target market the best strategic choice for the success of your product or service? Assess the company’s tangible and intangible strengths in providing the new product or service, along with any weaknesses or gaps. Your response should comprehensively address different aspects of the business, establishing clear links between the strengths and weaknesses you identify and how those affect planning for the new business activities. The factors you identify will depend on your business and idea but might include things such as staff capabilities and turnover, organizational culture, production capacity, location, customer loyalty, supply chain relations, financial stability, or ability to acquire funding. Assess the opportunities and threats that emerging consumer trends and company ethics may present to the success of the new idea.i. Consumer trends. How might emerging trends in consumer preferences (e.g., buying local, support for green technologies, organic foods, etc.) impact the branding and business success of the new product or service you are launching in the current global marketplace? Justify your response, identifying the trends that are most relevant to your product or service and how they apply to your target market. Ethics. How might perceived ethics violations affect the branding image and ultimate success of the new product or service in a global environment? Support your response with specific examples. For example, do different target populations have different perceptions of what constitutes ethical behavior? How do consumers respond to those violations and what is the impact on business (e.g., product avoidance, lobbying for new regulations, etc.)? How might the factors you identified above affect branding and operations across different departments in the company? How does your business plan take this into account? For example, does organizational structure help or hinder branding and launch activities? Do departments have competing interests? Do they communicate effectively? Core competencies. Assess aspects of Under Armour or new idea that set you apart from the competition and provide long-term sustainability in the market. How do those competencies affect your business plan? In other words, what things about your company, product, or service provide significant value to the customer and are very difficult to duplicate? How can you use that strategically? What are the fixed and variable costs to the company of producing, marketing, and selling the new good or service, and how do those fit with the company's short- and long-term objectives? Support your narrative with a table showing calculations and any assumptions. How much is the target market willing and able to pay for your product or service? Use target market analysis and research on competitors prices to support your answer Are targeted consumers willing and able to pay more for your product or service if it (or the organization, more generally) aligns with their preferences for socially responsible and ethical behavior? Justify your response with evidence. In light of your analysis, what pricing strategy and price is most appropriate for this product or service and why? For example, would skimming, penetration, economy, or premium pricing be most appropriate? What should the initial price be? How and when will you evaluate the success of the new product or service and its branding? Be sure to suggest processes that occur at regular intervals and extend across the business, explaining how results will impact decisions on whether to continue or to initiate exit strategies. What regular, business-wide feedback loops and processes will you implement to support the new idea, keep it on track, and make mid-course corrections as needed? For example, will you adjust business functions and/or facilitate regular communication across departments? How will you collect relevant information and ensure its accuracy? In planning for the future, how will you identify and integrate other factors that might affect implementation of the new idea into your business decisions and planning? In other words, what other things do you need to consider when moving forward?

Making over Avon

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Read Chapter 1, Case #3: Making Over Avon.  Answer questions 1-4 Below in a 3-5 page Double Spaced APA style paper (Including references pages), and support with the concepts outlined in your text and from your previous classes. Please insert references as it applies to the section of the paper.  Must be original work.  Thank You

Please Read: As the world’s largest direct seller of cosmetics and beauty-related items, Avon Products wants to continue building its global reach (more than two-thirds of Avon’s sales revenues come from outside North America) and attracting younger customers. To do so, however, Andrea Jung, chairman and CEO, must continually juggle the strategic challenges of guiding this almost $10.7 billion company and its worldwide army of over 5.4 million independent representatives.

Jung was named Avon’s first female CEO in 1999. Since that time, she has overseen some significant strategic initiatives. One of these was the company’s $100 million investment in a state-of-the-art product research facility outside of New York City. Avon had always lagged behind its competitors in R&D (research and development), spending less than 1 percent of sales while Esteé Lauder Companies was spending over 1.3 percent of sales and L’Oreal SA about 3 percent of sales. Because this industry is one in which customers continually look for new products that make them look good and that are also good for the skin, R&D is critical. In addition, Avon is primarily a direct sales company whose representatives pitch new products to customers every two weeks, so it’s important to invest in new product development.

Another of Jung’s strategic moves was a revamp of Avon’s old-fashioned image through new marketing and advertising. Avon—best known for its troops of mostly middle-aged women selling skin creams and cosmetics to their neighbors from catalogs—needed a serious overhaul of that dated image. Jung ordered a new design for the company’s all-important sales brochure using heavier, glossier paper that was more visually appealing. Also, the company is “going Hollywood.” MTV star Lauren Conrad, Patrick Dempsey of the TV drama Grey’s Anatomy, and actress Reese Witherspoon (who is Avon’s Global Ambassador) are a few of the celebrity relationships that Avon has initiated. Even with its revamped marketing strategies, Avon has work to do. In a study of mass-market cosmetics brands, it lagged behind seven others in terms of customer loyalty, while one of its main competitors, Mary Kay Cosmetics, topped the list.

Another strategic initiative was a line of cosmetics for young women aged 16–24. The company’s first push into the youth market was a dramatic change from its core customer group that was aged 35 and older. Deborah Fine (who has since left the company) was president of the company division responsible for the line. She said, “We wanted to capture a younger customer, bring in new reps, and create a new global youth brand.” According to Avon, 17 million young women in the United States spend at least $75 billion a year on beauty and fashion. If Avon could capture part of that spending with appealing products, it had the potential to add significantly to its bottom line. Avon’s “young” brand, called mark, launched in summer 2003. Thousands of career-savvy young women signed on as representatives and have helped propel mark to the number two trend brand in the world. Jung is confident that mark will continue to help the company “pass the makeup brush” to a new generation of Avon customers. The strategic challenge, obviously, will be to keep mark’s customers and sales force (a notoriously fickle age group) excited and hooked.

Despite these actions, Avon’s sales during 2005 slowed significantly as U.S. revenues sagged, and even the previously strong overseas markets slowed. Jung’s response—a multiyear restructuring program aimed at saving at least $300 million a year. This restructuring involved downsizing (eliminating corporate positions); doubling advertising spending; focusing R&D resources on product innovation in an attempt to make its brands more competitive; simplifying the manufacturing structure; outsourcing some services to low-cost countries; and improving the attractiveness of the representatives’ earnings potential in the United States, Russia, and Brazil. In addition, the company implemented a zero-overhead-growth philosophy targeted at offsetting inflation through productivity improvements. At this time, Avon’s greatest market potential appears to be in China. It was the first company to be granted a direct selling license there and the number of active sales representatives has increased significantly. One analyst says, “Avon has a great brand; they’ve got a product lineup that’s appealing … Its [business] model is not broken.” The turnaround that Jung put into place seems to be working.

Questions

  1. Explain how strategic management and the strategic management process are illustrated in the Avon case.
  2. What are some performance measures that Avon’s strategic decision makers might use to evaluate the results of the restructuring initiatives?
  3. Andrea Jung is Avon’s first female CEO, which you might find surprising considering that Avon’s target market is overwhelmingly female.  Do some research on the number of female CEOs and female board members in U.S. companies?  (Check out Catalyst, an organization that researches women’s workplace issues.)  Have these numbers changed over time?  What conclusions might you draw from these data?
  4. Go to Avon’s website (www.avoncompany.com). What are Avon’s vision and mission?  How might these statements affect strategic decisions and actions?  Check out the company’s executive team.  Select one top manager other than Andrea Jung.  Describe that individual’s job responsibility.  Finally, select one of the company’s brands and describe what strategies are being used for that brand.

assignment 720

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need it in 2hrs or less

ECON- module 2 discussion

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(1) Search the Internet using a search engine (such as Google) for a recent article that discusses a change in the price of something.  For example, search “price increase,” “price rise,” “price drop,” or “price decrease.”  (I recommend you avoid articles about the stock market.)  Copy the URL address of the web site.  You will need to post it.

(2) Determine the cause of the price change by reading the article.  Then try to identify which of the theoretical demand or supply shifters is the cause of the price change.  Next state whether demand or supply, or both, shift to the right or to the left. The article should suggest the cause, such as increased popularity, higher costs of production, or something similar, and you should try to figure out if that represents an increase (shift to the right) or decrease (shift to the left) of the demand or supply curves.  If the article does not suggest a cause of the price change, then you must find another article. It is important the article you choose allows you to identify one or more supply or demand shifters. Otherwise, the article will not be suitable for this discussion thread.

(3) After you have stated which diagram best describes the situation in your article, write a short paragraph stating what should happen to the equilibrium price and equilibrium quantity in the graph. These are the theoretical model predictions (for example, you may find that equilibrium price should increase, while equilibrium quantity should decrease by looking at the graph). Last, conclude by stating whether the theoretical predictions match any findings/statements in the article. If this is not mentioned in the article, state that as well.

IN ORDER TO RECEIVE FULL CREDIT FOR THIS DISCUSSION BOARD, YOU NEED TO POST THREE THINGS:

(1)  The URL address of your chosen article that discusses a price change.

Example:  http://www.spcnetwork.com/mii/1998/980162.htm

(2) A description of how the supply and demand model changed from its initial equilibrium because of the events described in the article.

(3) A paragraph that describes how the supply & demand diagram (the theoretical model predictions) could explain the price change discussed in the article.

EACH STUDENT MUST CHOOSE A DIFFERENT TOPIC.  READ THE POSTED ARTICLES TO ENSURE YOUR TOPIC HAS NOT ALREADY BEEN POSTED!

(Ask me if you want or need clarification.)

Please change the title of your response to reflect the topic of your supply & demand analysis.  For example, if your article talks about a change in the price of beef, use “Beef” as your title.

Provide a detailed 275 word essay responses for each question below. Responses should show your…

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Provide a detailed 275 word essay responses for each question below. Responses should show your mastery of the subject.

Essay 1- Describe the concept of local differential GPS and its significance to understanding error.

Essay 2- Compare and contrast the two basic data structures of GIS, discussing advantages and disadvantages of each. Click here for more on this paper……. Click here to have a similar A+ quality paper done for you by one of our writers within the set deadline at a discounted

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Security Administration and Access Control" Please respond to the following: From the e-Activity, summarize the ethical dilemma, and develop a plan in which you would mitigate the vulnerability. Compare and contrast physical access controls and logical access controls. Further explain in what ways both physical and logical access controls are related to implementing a security policy. Week 3 eActivity Research a specific lapse in professional ethics by an IT professional in the last five (5) years. Be prepared to discuss.

Working in Groups and Teams

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Effective Teams

In this Team Assignment you will be interacting with classmates as a team member as assigned by your instructor in the team areas. As you address the Assignment you will practice building relationships with your teammates. This is a skill often used in business or project teams.

You will discuss this Assignment and your team PowerPoint with your teammates in your specific team area located to the left. This is where you will exchange ideas and pieces of the PowerPoint presentation that you will ultimately submit as a team for the team Assignment to the Unit 6 Dropbox.

Today in the business world the ability to work in effective teams is necessary since much of the work done in organizations is accomplished as part of a team. In order to get some experience with these concepts, you will first view a video on teams, then read the scenario, and finally create a 2 page-slide PowerPoint presentation (and include an additional title and references slide) based on the checklist question below. You may include any detailed notes in the “Notes” section of the PowerPoint presentation.

  1. View the video click here, “Herman Miller – Motivation, Leadership, and Teamwork.”
  2. Read the Scenario:

    You work for an organization which operates in a service sector and has more than 500 employees. Recently your company has experienced issues with employee teamwork. Employees seem to be having difficulty working well together in various teams. Your boss has asked you to lead an effort to research ways to create an effective team work environment and give him advice on how to solve the problem. After you conduct your research, you will deliver a presentation to the CEO and Board of Directors on your findings.

  3. After viewing the video, reading the textbook, and conducting research in the Kaplan library, complete the following Assignment:

    Complete the Checklist items based on your chapter Reading, research, and on the scenario provided.

  • Create a 2 page PowerPoint presentation 
  •  Explain how to create team players based on your experience and your research and readings from the text.

Christopher9i

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For this week’s Individual Work you will Interview a local parole officer in your state. Develop a minimum of 10 questions that cover the following:

  • What are the job functions of a parole officer?                                                
  • What are the pros and cons of the position?                                                
  • What are their recommendations for entering the field?                                                
  • Are you interested in this career? Why or why not?                                                
  • After completion of the interview, summarize the interview into a 1 to 2 page document (not including the cover page).

Ethics, Values, and Diversity in Human Services. 2-3 paragraphs

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To prepare:

  • Review the ethical codes for the American Psychological Association, the American Counseling Association, and the National Organization for Human Services on the websites provided in this week’s Learning Resources. Compare the similarities and differences between these three codes of ethics.
  • Select a human services-related situation or event, preferably one from your own community that is related to a specific population. This could be a local disaster (flood, apartment fire, major traffic accident), a story involving teenage drug use or another social concern related to an area school, concerns with homeless people in your area, or another situation or event that relates to a problem in living. Then think about how the problems of this situation or event were addressed.
  • Finally, reflect on how ethics and values of the human services profession, as well as client diversity, were—or were not—addressed in the event you have chosen.

Websites

  • Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conducthttp://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx

    The American Psychological Association (APA) code of ethics establishes enforceable rules and principles of ethics to which professionals in psychology must adhere.

With these thoughts in mind:

write a 2-3 paragraph description of the human services situation or event you have chosen. Explain how ethics, values of the profession, and client diversity were – or were not – addressed in the event. Be specific and use examples to illustrate your points.